Mass Foundations: Redemption in the Stars
by Nord Ronnoc
Summary: Years after his adventures in the Mojave, the Courier found himself in a different universe after an experiment at Big MT gone awry. Now, he has gottten himself involved in a search for the body of a dead war hero, Commander Shepard, with the help of his new allies, Dr. Liara T'Soni and information broker Feron. This must be Tuesday for him. Part Two of Mass Foundations.
1. Introduction: War Never Changes

_**AUTHOR'S NOTES: The Mass Effect franchise is owned by BioWare and EA while the Fallout franchise is owned by Bethesda (and Obsidian in the latest entry, New Vegas). If they decided to sue me, they will gain nothing of value.**_

_**Well, here it is. The rewrite of Mass Vexations: Redemption, part of the four-part (or five, depending on things went) Mass Foundations series, is now here. Why a rewrite? Well, like any author, sometimes I felt unsatisfied with some parts of the story, so there's that. Expect more of these to come. Also, I've included a Fallout-style narrative intro, just for you! Enjoy!**_

_**EDIT: I would like to thank Sarge1995 for beta reading this! I almost forgot to do this.**_

* * *

_**Mass Foundations**_

_**Redemption in the Stars**_

**Introduction**

**War Never Changes**

_War. War never changes._

_Since the dawn of mankind, when our ancestors first discovered the killing power of rock, bone, and wood, blood has been spilt in the name of everything, from God, justice, wealth, freedom, to psychotic rage. Eventually, mankind couldn't sustain itself any longer. On October 23, 2077, a war erupted between the United States and China over dwindling resources of uranium and petroleum, causing the world to be destroyed by nuclear fire and radiation._

_Those that were fortunate enough to survive what was now known as the Great War lived in Vaults, great underground shelters designed to protect its inhabitants from nuclear Armageddon. But the Vaults were never meant to save anyone. Their true purpose was a twisted experiment, testing the very limits of humanity's integrity in dire conditions. Some had failed in this experiment while others eventually opened their doors to the wasteland._

_Civilizations rose from the ashes of the Old World and sought to establish new land, form tribes, and create villages and great cities. But as the years passed, what had been the American southwest eventually was held under the banner of the New California Republic, a nation that held old world values of democracy, justice, and the rule of law and order. As the Republic grew, so did its needs. Scouts spread out east into the harsh Mojave wasteland, seeking wealth and territory. They returned with tales of a shining city untouched by the horrors of the Great War. The Old World city—New Vegas—was owned by the mysterious overseer, Mr. House, and his army of rehabilitated tribes and police robots._

_The NCR mobilized its army and set out east to occupy Hoover Dam and restoredit to working condition. However, they encountered another society, forced from slavery and the conquest of 86 tribes—Caesar's Legion. In 2277, they fought for the control of the Dam, and the Republic won the battle, but just barely._

_Four years later, a young man known as the Courier was shot in the head and left for dead in a grave near Goodsprings by a man named Benny. The Courier recovered from his injuries and set out to find Benny and reclaim his package—the Platinum Chip. When he arrived at New Vegas and took out Benny, he discovered the purpose of the Chip and Mr. House's plans. With it, House would upgrade his Securitron army, wipe out the armies of the NCR and the Legion, and take over the Dam himself. Under the orders of the NCR, the Courier ended Mr. House's plan, then aided them in the coming battle against Caesar's Legion, turning the tide at Hoover Dam, alongside the Boomers, the Enclave Remnants, and the Brotherhood of Steel._

_His other accomplishments includedsalvaging the Sierra Madre and stopping the mad Father Elijah from using the Cloud to wipe the slate clean, _banishing_ the White Legs from Zion Valley alongside Joshua Graham, uncovering the secrets of Big Mountain, and preventing_ _the ICBMs in the Divide from being launched with Ulysses' assistance, but at the cost of ED-E's life._

_Years after the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, the Courier's life was about to change at Big Mountain._


	2. Chapter One: Stranger in a Strange Land

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I apologize for the long wait. I've been busy with college, doing my assignments for my classes spending time with my family, and being distracted by everyday life. Now, to get things out of the way...**_

_**This rewrite is based on Mass Vexations: Redemption, a spin-off dismissed by Herr Wozzeck, author of the main **_**Mass Vexations **_**series, due to various reasons. While this storyline remains the same, there'll be several differences, changed, expanded, and/or removed scenes in this fic. Also, I would like to thank Sarge 1995 of and 4Ferelden of the Mass Effect Wiki for looking over this chapter. I appreciate it!**_

_**For anyone new to either setting, I would recommend you go to their respective links for information. Be wary of spoilers, though.**_

_**Fallout: www . falloutwiki Fallout _ Wiki**_

_**Mass Effect: masseffect . wikia wiki / Mass _ Effect _ Wiki**_

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**Chapter One**

**Stranger in a Strange Land**

Ethan Sunderland woke up, his head throbbing with a vicious headache caused by a concussion after being thrown by the blast from the improved Big Mountain Transportalponder. His vision was blurry, but his eyes have adjusted enough to see clearly after blinking them several times. The last thing he remembered was improving his Transportalponder's efficiency at Big Mountain. Then, after a series of experiments involving highly advanced quantum mechanics and precautions taken, the Courier made the mistake of overloading the device, creating an explosion in the facility he was at. Now, here he was, lying flat on his back against a wall in a dark, dank alleyway that only God-knew-where. He checked his equipment. Thankfully, most of them are intact, with his Desert Eagle sidearm and the M16A4 rifle at his side, along with a belt of frag grenades strapped diagonally across his chest. However, while his stimpak supply was mostly intact, though some of them are smashed into pieces from his landing. Thankfully, he still had one Stealth Boy left.

Spotting his Transportalponder across the alleyway, the Courier stood up and picked it up. When he took a glimpse at it, he found the whole thing trashed. Part of the antenna was snapped off, the plastic casing that contained the power cracked, and the chip—the source of the Transportalponder's power—burned out in a crisp. Unless he could find the right parts or the equivalent, he couldn't fix it, let alone jury rig it. But at least he could play with it like a toy gun.

He then brought up his Pip-Boy 3000 and switched to the Map tab. He couldn't get much information out of it aside from some basic details, mainly his location being the size of a metropolis. The date and time read July 13, 2284, 5:38 PM. He checked his surroundings, only to find a security camera tracking his every move. He hoped, though extremely unlikely, that no one would find some guy randomly appearing in an alleyway suspicious in the slightest.

When he stepped out of the alleyway, Ethan was taken by surprised by what he saw—and smelled.

First off, the place was rather filthy with an odor he couldn't identify. He hoped it was a corpse. Second, the place was brown with lights of various colors—mainly bright neon pink, purple, and orange—made it look like a mix of a scene from a dystopian science-fiction movie and a superhero comic, like La Fantoma. Even the dimly-lit signs and displays reminded him of the Strip, the technological wonders of Big Mountain, the missile silos at the Divide, and the vending machines and the Holograms at the Sierra Madre.

What was even stranger to Ethan than the place was the locals, which some of them are not even human. Some of them are avian-like, with metal plates encasing their faces and bodies. It made them a strange cross between a bird, a futuristic trash can, and a raptor. He had also noticed the others are slender with big, horned heads with black, beady eyes. To him, they strongly resembled greyheads. The rest of the locals are human, or at least look like one. Some of the women's skins were a range of blue or violet, with tendrils as hair. But Ethan was especially worried about the giant gorilla-like thing guarding what appeared to be a nightclub.

Even the armor guards wore and the weapons they carry have already outclassed his own, including his armored Vault 21 jumpsuit. What also worried him the most was these orange lights glowing on their forearms. He was unsure of their exact nature. He was curious, but he didn't' want to find out the hard way.

When the Courier tried to ask the locals for information, he usually received some dirty looks from them. Not understanding the strange languages didn't help him at all. Even searching for a terminal that could work, let alone repairable, would have ever helped him. But he managed to learn a few things. First, the place was a space station known as Omega. The name of the place—Omega—made sense to him in a strange contextual way. Secondly, Omega was run by a ruthless overlord named Aria T'Loak, who has one notable rule for everyone on this station—don't fuck with her.

Upon asking further questions, Ethan was given directions to a nearby marketplace when he asked for the location of buying and selling some items. With the new information, he set out for his destination.

* * *

As the Courier traveled down the crowded streets of Omega, he tried to listen to the news brought out by the loudspeakers. Aside from some spokesperson speaking in a some language along with some mangled words in English here and there, the only thing he could understand was about a well-known hero being declared missing in action after an attack out in a faraway system. However, upon passing by an alleyway, he stopped in the middle of his tracks as he felt something metallic against his temple. He sighed as he turned to his right, only to find a brown, four-eyed humanoid pointing what appeared to be a pistol at his head.

"You're going to shoot someone who's armed to the teeth? Are you serious?" Ethan asked in a sarcastic tone. "That's a great idea, that's for sure."

The four-eyed thug replied in a strange language his Pip-Boy can't translate, but it seemed like the thug could understand him. Not it mattered at the moment.

Before the thug could get the chance to pull the trigger, the Courier instinctively grabbed the thug's gun arm and pinned him against the wall. "There's not much style in you. Not very subtle. I'll bet you like to take that sweet opportunity to pick on the defenseless," he spoke in a sardonic tone as he kneed the thug in the stomach, causing him to groan in pain as he dropped his pistol. The Courier then drew his own pistol out, switched the safety off, and pointed it between the eyes. With this, he fired his pistol once, killing the thug. At least it ended better than being ambushed by a group of old ladies armed with rolling pins at Freeside.

The body of the four-eyed thug slumped to the ground. Ethan then knelt down and went through the thug's things after switching the safety back on his pistol and holstered it, only to find what appeared to be a credit chit and an earpiece. The thug's ears are small and pointy, which wouldn't fit over his own ear.

He picked up the strange pistol and took a look at it. It was a semi-automatic pistol with iron sights similar to the ones on the Browning Hi-Power and the M1911 pistols. He then field stripped it and studied its internal part. It lacked the chamber, hammer, but the muzzle was there, or two in its case. The other parts looked like the ones he would see in energy weapons like the recharger pistol, but with a dense block of metal, and a computer system of some sort, possibly for calculating how much mass it would shoot out based on several circumstances. He also noticed several miniature heat sinks attached inside the grip, much like a magazine. Capitalizing on this, he took the pistol with him after putting it back together, dragged the thug's body, and dumped him into a nearby dumpster. He then left the alleyway without wasting any more time.

When he arrived at the marketplace, Ethan approached the nearest kiosk, hoping that credit chit would be enough to provide him the basics. The human clerk turned to see him. He sported short, red hair and wore some coveralls over his body. "Hey there!" the human clerk spoke. "You look like you've been through a lot. What can I do for you?"

"Finally, someone that can speak English," Ethan sighed as he placed his arms on the counter.

"I take it's your first time here?" the clerk asked.

"Something like that, yeah," Ethan shrugged.

"Without a translator," the clerk stated.

Ethan nodded. "Yep. Got one?"

"Yeah, I do," the clerk replied. "Use the terminal to your right to make a transaction," He tilted his head to the orange screen. "Do you have an omni-tool? If not, then you can buy it here."

"An omni-tool?" the Courier asked, confused. He turned his attention to the terminal before returning to the clerk. "Also, what's up with the terminal? Concerned about security?"

"Yeah, something like that. You can also see these terminals on the Citadel," the clerk blinked, noting Ethan's ignorance of the galaxy at large. "And what kind person are you to not know what an omni-tool is? They're multipurpose handheld tools with a computer microframe and other stuff, for crying out loud!"

"The Citadel?"

The clerk stared at the Courier as he raised an eyebrow. "Where did you come from?" he asked suspiciously.

"Quite a ways away," Ethan replied flippantly.

"I see…just buy something as long as you can afford it."

Ethan nodded. He turned to the terminal once more and browsed the selections. Eventually, he found an omni-tool and a translator of satisfactory quality, but he was unable to find the parts that are compatible with his Transportalponder, not even the phase microchips with the range greater than 40 watts. He doubted showing the clerk that device would help. He would have to find another way, somehow.

Sighing, the Courier used the chit to purchase these two items, costing him about 7,500 credits, greatly depleting its funds.

"Here you go," said the clerk as he handed out a headset and a small PDA. "One Logic Arrest omni-tool and a Rosetta translator headset coming up!"

The Courier took the translator and the small PDA-like object, and fitted the translator over his right ear. A holographic interface appeared in front of his eye, allowing him to read different languages easily. He looked at the PDA object with a confused look on his face. "This is—"

"Turn it on and see for yourself."

The Courier did so by pressing a button and, to his surprise, an orange holographic light appeared around his right arm, reaching up to his elbow. Intrigued, he moved his arm around, the omni-tool still clinging on it. "Nice!" he grinned as he attempted to use one of the functions. He fumbled a few times, but he managed to get a paper-thin video screen to appear above his omni-tool.

"That omni-tool also provides some small amount of kinetic barriers, in case you get attacked," the clerk explained to Ethan. "But it doesn't do shit against radiation, like laser, temperature, slow-moving objects, and poison, so be careful."

"Noted. Thanks," Ethan replied as he deactivated his omni-tool and put the device in his pocket.

"Take care!"

The Courier then sauntered out of the marketplace as he looked at the map on his Pip-Boy. He remembered passing by the nightclub earlier, which would be a great place to gather some news from the locals. And the best place to get a drink, barring the ones that would kill or knock him out in an instant.

After using a strange network on his omni-tool known as the Extranet and learning as much as he can in a short amount of time, Ethan approached the entrance to the nightclub, Afterlife. Its name appeared in giant white letters above the entrance, surrounded by bright-purple lights. The giant gorilla thing, an elcor, was still there acting as the doorman. In front of the elcor was a line consisting of several people of various races, such as the avian-like turians, the blue-skinned, mono-gendered asari, the amphibian, greyhead-like salarian, and, of course, the humans. It was hard for him to believe that the year here was 2183, when humanity hasn't destroyed Earth in a nuclear war. Also, he found out the non-humans were not mutants as he thought, but aliens.

Shaking his thoughts off, he approached one of the locals.

"Uh, excuse me," Ethan spoke.

The local turned around, revealing to be an intimidating figure, tall as a super mutant. It resembled a cross between a reptile, like a gecko, but with the hump at the back of his head, and a…tortoise, perhaps. Though the shell covered his forehead instead of neither his back nor that hump. From what the Courier was seeing, that tortoise-thing was a krogan, a species that suffered from a biological weapon known as the genophage, which reduced the number of krogan infants born per single female.

"What do you want, human?" the krogan asked with disdain in his voice. He didn't speak in some alien language, but in plain English, thanks to Ethan's translator.

_Bad breath alert!_ Ethan thought as he gagged at the krogan's breath. He would've never guessed that these people would smell fouler than the residents at Freeside. "I was hoping to find a job that would pay rather handsomely, or at least—"

"Who the hell are you to ask these questions, not knowing anything about Omega?" the krogan rudely retorted, frowning. He then muttered something else quietly enough that Ethan's translator didn't catch. Whatever he said, Ethan assumed it wasn't exactly polite.

"Someone who has lived under a rock his whole entire life, that's what," the Courier responded dryly as he folded his arms in front of him, scoffing.

The krogan's frown intensified as he leaned in closer than the human would've liked. "You got a lot of nerve for one who talks too much," he threatened. "Got a problem with that?"

"Yeah, I do. I don't like being threatened," Ethan answered. But before he could say anything else, someone bumped into him. He turned around to see a hooded man quickly shuffled by. He muttered a quick apology before vanishing into the crowd, completely bypassing the line and headed straight into the club.

The krogan was not amused. He suddenly grabbed Ethan's collar, pressing his gun against his ribcage. "Mind repeating that, _human_?"

"You heard me," Ethan replied as he quickly drew his new pistol out and pointed it at the krogan's head, right between his eyes.

But instead of backing off like he had hoped, the krogan simply barked out in laughter. "And you think that pistol will take me out so easily?"

In response, Ethan pulled out his Bowie knife and stuck it at the edge of the shell on the krogan's face. This has gotten the krogan's attention; within seconds, a more fearful expression appeared on his face as he cowered slightly. "Hey, look, calm down! I just want to relax here!"

_Now that came as a surprise._ "All right. Good," he sighed greatly, pulling his knife out of the krogan's headplate and sheathed it. "Now, why don't you let me go and we can forget about all of this, okay?"

With no further objections, the krogan did exactly that. "I didn't even think you would know about the headcrest," he admitted. "You sure know a thing or two about intimidating a krogan…"

"Not really. I just guessed," Ethan replied as he put away his Predator pistol in a spare holster up near his left armpit.

"You don't know much about the krogan where most of the people here on Omega are not human?" asked another person, a salarian, nearby. "I don't know if I can believe you or not..."

"At least it couldn't get any worse," Ethan replied flippantly.

"So what do you want, then?" the krogan asked.

Ethan looked at the entrance to Afterlife. "What's up with that hooded guy cutting through line? It seems like he was in a bit of a hurry."

"Well, at least you're not blind," the krogan commented. "People are always in a hurry at Omega. Let your guard down for a moment and you'll get yourself killed. Why do you ask?"

"Nothing, really," the Courier answered. "Though I really need a freaking drink."

"You do realize there's a line, right?" asked the krogan, pointing at said line with this thumb.

"Yeah, I know," Ethan replied. "Any way to get past that line quickly?"

"Aside from dealing that that elcor doorman, no. They have the patience of a mountain," the

krogan answered. "Just get in line and wait."

"On second thought," said the Courier, sighing, "I'll just take a walk instead."

"Don't let your guard down."

Ethan then walked past he krogan and the line as he walked down a nearby hallway.

* * *

"Dr. T'Soni?"

The conversation with the elcor had been abruptly halted as an asari turned to the mysterious hooded figure. She blinked uncertainly, a hand going on her shoulder as he looked up at him.

"Should I..." she asked hesitantly as he looked more closely at the hooded figure sitting beside her, his black eyes looking back at her. Upon a closer look, with the dull lighting of the club, his skin—or rather, his scales—were a bright set of hues. The news projected on the holographic display across the table informed the denizens of Omega about the repairs the Citadel was taking in the aftermath by Sovereign and the geth. It felt like it happened so long ago when Shepard was around. She blinked once more when a realization dawned upon her.

"Oh, I apologize," said the asari. "I was…preoccupied at the moment."

"That's all right," the hooded man replied understandingly. "I'm Feron, Dr. T'Soni. Pleasure to make an acquaintance with you."

"Please, call me Liara," replied the asari. "It's what Shepard would have done."

"Shepard…" Feron muttered, nodding as he crossed his arms and looked at the asari. "You're looking for the whereabouts of her body, correct?"

"Yes," the asari answered. "What do you know?"

Feron glanced around the surroundings, and then leaned in closer to the former archaeologist. "I can't tell you here. It isn't safe," he whispered. "We should go outside."

"Of course," she agreed. With this, both the asari and the drell sat up and walked out of the club, with the asari following close behind her hooded companion.

* * *

The Courier leaned forward against the rail in the less populated part of Omega, looking through one of the windows, seeing the distant stars blinking in and out in space. A giant asteroid field circled the station, with ships of various shapes and sizes causing traffic all over the station. Along the way here, he noticed some of the locals looked at him in a strange way, due to him being out of place, thanks to his armor. There were mutterings of his actions, some of praise and others of fear and concern. Apparently, they spread faster than he could say 'brahmin crap'.

His thoughts turned to the experiment back at Big Mountain, pondering about the outcome and the possibilities in the wake of it. He didn't think he died and somehow ended up in a purgatory, somehow. The blast didn't disintegrate him, he remembered correctly. Plus, it would have been one hell of a pun, with the name of the club being Afterlife and all.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard gunshots going off. Wanting to investigate, Ethan ran down the area, using the map and compass on his Pip-Boy as directions. Mere minutes later, he arrived at the source of the gunfire. Tiny metal slugs flew at extremely high velocities in both directions at a large arching, brown hallway. He realized the shields from his omni-tool would only last a few shots in an intense firefight, so he would have to be quick on his feet and resort to hit-and-run tactics.

His Predator pistol put, the Courier placed his body against the wall to his right. He poked his head out of the alleyway, but barely enough to gather some unwanted attention. In his direction, he saw a large group of people clad in blue-and-white armor. Some of them are human, while the rest are turians and batarians (the four-eyed beings he saw earlier).

He looked behind himself to see a hooded man using several crates as cover. Ethan recognized him—that man was the one that bumped into him back at the entrance to the Afterlife club. At a glance, he noticed the man's skin—scales, actually—were a set of various colors. He wore a brown cloak over his tan-green armor. Alongside the man was an asari in light-purple armor, but with more flexible padding.

However, another soldier approached the hooded man and his asari companion, wielding a flamethrower with a large tank on her back. Capitalizing on the tank's exposure to incident and gunfire, the Courier popped out of cover and aimed down the sights of his pistol at the flamer in question, activating the VATS program on his Pip-Boy. According to its calculations he would have a 72% chance of hitting the tank on a single shot, but the probability will increase by 5% with every extra shot at that specific point.

Time slowed down, adrenaline rushing through Ethan's body as he fired five times at the tank in question with great precision as quickly as he could. He made the shot on the first two tries, but missed on the third, causing the tank to leak a variety of gases like methane and oxygen. Before the flamer realized what will happen, it was too late for her. The last two shots hit the tank, causing it to explode in a fiery radius, engulfing her and those nearby in it.

"Holy shit, we got another hostile here!" one of the shooters exclaimed.

"I'll take him out," a turian spoke as blue lights appeared in front of his body, providing him extra protection. He approached the Courier with a shotgun, taking his shields out in a single hit.

Ethan went back behind cover to wait for his shields to recharge as he got out his Bowie in a reverse grip. As the turian was about a step away from him, he grabbed the turian, pinned him against the wall and went for his exposed neck with the knife. The turian struggled, dropping his shotgun as he attempted to push the knife away from his neck. The Courier then head-butted the turian, stunning him in the process, and stabbed him in the neck, causing blue blood to flow down his body, ending his life.

Ethan grabbed the soldier's rifle attached to his back and the disk-shaped grenades. He was becoming over-encumbered with the amount of weight from his equipment, so he discarded his old frag grenades by taking off the belt, pulled the pin off from one of the grenades, and tossed it aside toward the armored shooters. When it went off, the fragmentations left little effect on them thanks to their highly advanced armor. His old weapons, the Desert Eagle and the M16A4 rifle, were out of the question.

He heard more gunshots going off behind him, and he turned around to see the hooded man shooting back gracefully with his pistol. "Hey!" the hooded man called out. "Unless you want to get shot, I would suggest you get over here! That place will leave you wide open!"

Following the hooded man's advice, Ethan holstered his pistol for the assault rifle. He fired at another shooter in several three-round bursts, taking out his shields, as he slid behind a crate to the right of the trash can. The asari glowed blue as she summoned a projectile and threw it, tossing the armored soldier away.

Ethan blinked, staring at the asari in disbelief. "Was that dark energy you just manipulated?" he asked stupidly. "Because that's what it looks like."

The two strangers took a double-take, blinking awkwardly. "Are you…?" the asari asked uncertainly. "Yes…that was dark energy, technically. How did you not know what mass effect fields and biotics are?"

The human shrugged. "Don't ask," he answered as metal slugs passed by the crate.

The hooded man shook his head in irritation. "So what are you doing here, then?"

"Oh, you know," Ethan replied flippantly as he popped out of cover and activated VATS once more, shooting down a few of the armored soldiers with great precision. "Sightseeing, taking a walk down the station, looking for a job, getting into the fray, the works. But what are you guys doing here?"

The strangers stared at him in disbelief with his ability to shoot implausibly accurate at a fast rate. The asari blinked before speaking. "I'll give you the short version: we're looking for someone's body," she answered. "Feron is my contact." She indicated the hooded man.

The hooded man, Feron, frowned at this. "Liara are you sure this is a good idea, trusting a human we just met?" he asked, indicating the asari.

"He has gotten into a firefight on our side, so it's as a good time as any," the asari, Liara, replied. "We're looking for the body of Commander Shepard. Feron here had some information."

"Commander Shepard? The one I've been hearing all over the news recently?" Ethan asked. He then popped out of cover and threw back a grenade at a nearby group of mercenaries, assuming they are such. The blast had caught some of them, but the remaining few rolled out of the way. "Guess she's more popular than I thought."

Then, he immediately realized he was just wasting his breath as the two gave him incredulous looks. "You…" Feron said uselessly.

"How did you not know who Shepard is until now?" asked Liara.

"You'd think you would've known her by her reputation, being human and all," said Feron.

"Like I said, I'm new around here," Ethan replied as he poked his head out of cover in his direction, only to find more mercenaries coming in.

"Aren't we all?" added Feron as he shot another mercenary. "We know people who are not from around here as well."

"In case you haven't noticed, I have a Pip-Boy," Ethan retorted. "But I don't want to get shot for showing you this thing."

A metal slug whizzed by soon after. "A wise idea. We're trying our best not to get killed here," Feron replied.

"At least we can come to an agreement on something," Ethan nodded as he continued firing at the mercenaries. It felt like no matter how many they killed, two more would replace the one. However, Liara leaned out of cover from a pillar nearby and gathered much of the blue energy as she can, forming it into a sphere in her hands. Within a second, she launched the ball at the mercenaries in question. It stood there, suspended in the air. Soon after, it began pulling those nearby toward it, flying around the object as if they were like string attached to a ceiling.

This gave Ethan and Feron the advantage as they focused their fire at the floating mercenaries in question, with the former using VATS whenever he can. He ducked as one of the floating mercenaries flew above him. He continued firing, with Liara firing her pistol at another shooter that came running on the scene.

Then, the firing ceased as one of the turians entered the fray with a large rifle in hand. "You better keep those biotics in check, asari," the turians called out as he aimed his weapon at them, "or you and your friends will end up nothing but smears all over the place!"

"With you going for overkill," Ethan shouted behind cover, "you better hope you're a good shot!"

Fortunately, Liara leaned out of cover and pulled off another attack. A blue barrier appeared on the turian, preventing him from moving.

Then, without warning, one of the mercenaries simply dropped dead with a bloody hole in his head. "Sniper, look out!" one of the mercs cried out in fear, but another shot pierced his head. One by one, the others quickly followed. Capitalizing on this, Liara ran first, tossing another merc with her biotics. Feron came next, dashing away as he grabbed Ethan's arm, following the asari. None of them looked back as they ran.

"Wait a second!" Ethan spoke as they ran down the hallway and rounded a corner. "Do we even know where we're going or are we just going around in circles? I can look up a good spot on my Pip-Boy."

Feron paused in his tracks. After running a few stops, Liara turned around and realized that Ethan had paused as well, with Feron looking at the Pip-Boy strapped on Ethan's left wrist. "What?" Feron asked.

"Let's see here…" the human muttered as he browsed through the map on his Pip-Boy. "What about this one here, in the middle of the market?" He brought the cursor onto said spot. "We could blend in there, lose our pursuers, and slip by, with none the wiser."

Feron nodded. "The Blue Suns wouldn't think of tracking us down there." He pointed his index finger at a spot on the Courier's Pip-Boy. Judging by the format on the map, it appeared to be a large mining facility. "However, the marketplace is a public place, which is risky for us since we can be easily detected."

"The Blue Suns?" Ethan asked. "Are they the ones that attacked us, right?"

"Correct," said the asari as she approached the two.

"Well, they did a good job of trying to kill us," Ethan dryly replied as he switched to the health monitoring tab on his Pip-Boy to find any signs of injury on himself. Thanks to the regenerative powers of his PHOENIX Monocyte Breeder, he was largely unscathed "Anybody hurt?"

"No," Feron answered. "But we would like to ask you some questions."

"All right, shoot," the human replied as he brought his Pip-Boy down.

"Who are you?" asked Liara. "And what exactly is this Pip-Boy you have?"

Ethan hesitated for a moment, deciding whether or not to tell the two his real name, concerned with the possibility of someone or some organization, like Caesar's Legion. They did help him, after all, and showing back some trust would be an excellent way to gain new friends and allies. "Name's Ethan Sunderland," he answered, "but people usually call me the Courier, for obvious reasons. A messenger, in case you didn't know what I'm talking about." He then showed Liara and Feron his Pip-Boy. "And this here is a Pip-Boy 3000. It comes with a Geiger counter, a radio, a health monitor, clock and calendar, software to store data, and I can brighten the screen to use it like a flashlight. It's a bit like your omni-tool, but it's more of a physical object in a sense."

Both Liara and Feron stood stock-still as Ethan mentioned this. "Why would you need a Geiger counter?" the asari asked.

"Back on Earth, there was a lot of radiation," the Courier answered. "It eventually decayed over time, but there are still some spots of it here and there."

Feron only gave the human a confused look. "Earth has large levels of radiation?" he asked. "I heard the slums of most of its cities were bad, but I wouldn't think the Systems Alliance was dealing with enough radiation to necessitate implementing a Geiger counter into that Pip-Boy of yours."

"Actually, this device was made by RobCo Industries, along with much of the tech more than three hundred years ago," the Courier corrected. "On a different Earth, in fact. Where I came from, this Alliance had never existed in the first place."

This has left his company even more confused. "RobCo?" asked Liara. "I've never heard of…" Her frown only intensified. "Wait; if you claim to be from an alternative timeline or perhaps an alternative universe, then when did humanity first developed the nuclear bomb?"

"1945, near the end of the second World War, when America developed and deployed it against the Japanese forces," Ethan replied. "Come to think about it, I kinda felt bad for them, being nuked and all. Next."

"Okay…how about the transistor?"

"I haven't seen much of those things aside from those at Big Mountain and robots." The human continued on. "There was also the Great War between the Americans and the Chinese back in 2077. Basically, humanity shot itself in the foot right there."

Liara glanced to Feron, with the two thoroughly exchanging confused looks, and then looked back at Ethan. "There was a war between the United States of America and China little over a century ago?" Liara asked. "I don't know what to believe…"

The Courier sighed, shaking his head. "That little piece of history didn't happen here. The date on my Pip-Boy reads 2284, but here I'm off by about 99 years. Yeah, I'll bet that's a bit hard to wrap that together, that I'm from a parallel universe and ended up on this station."

Liara glanced down at the ground for a second. "I…don't know to respond to that," she stated.

"You're correct," Feron replied. "But Omega is thousands of light years away from Earth."

"Damn, that's quite a ways away," the Courier retorted, biting his lower lip. After a second of thought, he pulled out his broken Transportalponder out of his backpack and showed it to Liara and Feron. "To make things simple for you, this device brought me here."

Liara stepped forward, looking at the device in question. "What is that?" she asked. "I have never seen anything like it…"

"You do now," Ethan deadpanned. "It's a Transportalponder, made from Big Mountain. This thing was designed to transport me from the Mojave to there and vice versa. I tried to improve its efficiency, but…anything can go wrong. I needed some unique materials to fix it."

Liara and Feron glanced at each other. "Goddess…" she muttered as she turned to Ethan before looking back at Feron. "Feron, do you think what he said was true, even possible?"

"I…I don't know," said the hooded man. "He has made a very large assumption."

"Aside from him being insane, it's the only explanation I can come up with." The asari gestured to Ethan. "Do you have an omni-tool?"

"Just bought it," said Ethan as he pulled out the omni-tool out of his pocket. His right arm glowed an orange light momentary before putting it away.

Liara nodded. "So what do you know about the Protheans? Does your Pip-Boy have that kind of information?"

"No, I don't have that," the human answered. "I don't know much about them."

"And the turians?"

"Yep, thanks to the extranet."

Liara curled her lips, placing her fingers on her chin. "All right…mass relays?"

Ethan shook his head after looking through the data on his Pip-Boy. "No, there isn't any reference to the mass relays. As far as I know, they can send you to another relay."

"So your testimony and the data in your Pip-Boy proves it, then," said Liara, raising an index finger after looking at the Pip-Boy to be sure. "I don't know how or what happened, but you're right. You're not in your own universe anymore."

"I don't know what to make of this…" said Feron, shaking his head as he placed his hands on his hips.

"That's enough," an unknown voice, presumably female, spoke from behind.

"What?" asked Liara, turning around to the source of the voice. "Who's there?"

"An ally," a black-haired woman in a black-and-white uniform replied as she approached the three, with two bodyguards, clad in white-and-yellow armor, followed behind. It was difficult for Ethan to determine whether or not she was beautiful or just that uncanny. "Relax. We're working towards the same goal. Finding Commander Shepard."

"The one I've been hearing about a lot recently?" asked the Courier. "News travel fast, it seems."

As the woman and her bodyguards gave him confused looks, Liara sighed. "It's a long story," she said. "We only just figured it out." She turned to Ethan. "I'll explain in full later, but Commander Shepard…none of us would be here if she hadn't stopped an invasion on the Citadel."

"Right," Ethan replied awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his neck, processing what Liara told him. "The way I hear it, she was declared missing in action a few weeks ago. If she turns out to be dead, I'll bet it'll be a terrible loss."

"That sounds about right," said the black-haired woman. "This…wasn't what we expected to find, I admit."

Liara glanced to Ethan and Feron, right as the latter removed his hood. Then, Ethan saw what looked like a lizard man. He felt like he was the odd one out, with him being ignorant of the new universe at large. He didn't mind that much, however.

"I wasn't expecting the day to end like this," Liara admitted. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"I am Miranda Lawson," the woman answered. "And I'm here to take you to my boss."

"You're quite quick to trust us," Ethan chuckled. "What does he want us for?"

"He's after the same thing all of you are," Miranda answered. "He wishes to find Shepard as well, and he may have intel in regards to that."

Feron glanced to Liara, frowning. "I don't trust this set-up," he said. "Cerberus is expressively pro-human. They're only interested in Shepard because she was human."

"Does it matter?" the asari asked. "We have the same goals as they do. Let's meet up with their boss."

"Very well, then," Miranda replied, brushing some strands of hair out of her face. "Follow me."

The woman set out soon after, with Liara following along quickly. Feron hung back slightly, and Ethan caught up with him immediately after.

"I have a bad feeling about this," the lizard man stated.

"Well, I got myself dragged into an alternative universe, nearly got mugged, provoked a krogan, got myself into a gunfight with you guys, and now we're working with a human supremacist group that got its name after a certain three-headed dog in Greek mythology to find a well-known hero who's most certainly dead," Ethan replied sarcastically. "Of _course_ you have a bad feeling about this!"

* * *

Liara, Feron, and Ethan reside in a small room, which shared much of Omega's architecture, but with an emblem of diamond-shaped outline surrounded by two orange strokes, which traced down to its bottom, embedded on the walls. There was a moment of silence between the three, with Ethan and Liara sitting down on a nearby chair as the former making maintenance on his pistol and the new weapons he was provided by Cerberus manufacturers.

Not long after, the door slid open. Miranda walked through, meeting the three. She looked to Liara. "Our leader wants to see you now."

Feron shook his head. "No thanks. I think I'll stay."

"Me too. Little busy here," the Courier stated.

"I wasn't asking you two." Miranda turned and exited the room, with Liara following behind closely as the door closed behind her.

Neither men talked to each other as they waited, making it seem like an eternity to them. Meanwhile, Liara was in another room, communicating with the Illusive Man, the leader of Cerberus. From what she knew from him, the Shadow Broker, a notorious, yet mysterious, information broker, hired the Blue Suns mercenaries to stop her and Feron from reaching Shepard. Not only that, but the Broker started making deals with the Collectors, an insectoid race of cosmic vagabonds that gathered unusual specimens—and they're interested in Shepard. Reluctantly, she agreed to work with them.

When she returned, it was much later than expected. "How'd it go?" Ethan asked. He wanted to repair his Transportalponder, but he didn't have the time to do so nor could any of the Cerberus engineers have the materials needed, though they're interested in it. He refused to give it to them.

"It went better than I expected," Liara replied. "We might have the intel about Shepard's location."

"That's good to hear," said Feron. "But we still have to…" he turned to Ethan. "Ethan was your name, right? Or do you prefer Courier? Either way, what will he do?"

The Courier shrugged. "I dragged myself into this mess." He finished reassembling his pistol together after replacing the heating ventilation and adding in some modifications provided to him, once again by Cerberus, to a semi-automatic rifle called a Mattock. "It might be stupid for me to leave now since more of these mercenaries might come after me. Plus, I'm a courier. I might as well tag along."

Feron raised an eye ridge at Ethan's repair skills before nodded. "I have no objections," he replied. "He has certainly seen a lot more than most people."

"Yes, of course," Liara continued with a nod. "But there's the fact that he jumped into an alternative universe."

The drell frowned. "You still believe that?"

The Courier sighed before rolling his eyes. "Yes, I'm from another universe," he stated, annoyed. "What, you want me to show you a stimpak? Because I can show you one."

"That's not what I..."

The asari approached the human. "If it can help, then perhaps I can join my consciousness with his."

Ethan blinked, giving Liara a confused look. "How will you able to do that?" he asked. "Telepathy?"

"Technically, it's a melding," Liara explained. "While I can attune my nervous system to yours, we can exchange thoughts and memories. Sometimes, an ordinary melding can become a true union, transcending beyond the physical universe."

"All right, keep the sappy details out. You just made it sound like it came out of a bad romance novel," Ethan replied, his face cringing from how awkward Liara explained this process to him as he raised his hands in front of him. "Let's get this other with."

Liara approached him one more. "Relax, Ethan," she told the human in question as he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Embrace eternity!"

Her eyes turned black as Ethan jolted from the electrical impulses coursing through his body. Then, many of his memories showed up in his mind, flashing before his eyes. He saw himself shaking hands with an NCR officer at the Strip, then seeing himself, alongside his companions, fighting against Lanius at Hoover Dam. Next, he saw himself at the Sierra Madre vault, trapping Elijah in it. He saw himself approaching Ulysses at the ICBM facility, his weapons holstered as he talked to the other Courier. So many memories, so many accomplishments. Sparing the Think Tank, banishing the White Legs from Zion Valley alongside Joshua Graham, helping the Misfits train in combat, killing Benny with his own gun, and many others. Then he found himself tied up in the middle of the Mojave desert, near Goodsprings. With Jessup and McMurphy standing behind Benny, the man in the checkered jacket, he pointed his golden-plated, custom-made Browning Hi-Power pistol at his head with a devilish grin on his face. Then he fired two rounds near his forehead.

And just like that, it was over. Ethan blinked. He would have trouble describing what he went through. He was fine, despite going through some traumatic moments, but it felt like someone scrambled his mind and thoughts like an egg.

"Goddess, that was…interesting," Liara commented, exhausted from the melding, as she placed her right hand on her forehead to mitigate her exhaustion.

"You all right?" the Courier asked.

"Yes. Such a melding can be intense. It can be…tiring."

"I can tell," the human retorted. He turned to Feron. "What do you think, Feron?"

"At this point, I don't know…" Feron admitted. "But I think I can see where you're coming from."

"Well…I guess we'll have to get you used to the galaxy at large, then," said Liara.

"While finding the body of the Commander," Feron deadpanned.

"Yeah," speaking of which," Ethan replied as he stood up. "What else can you tell me about her? From what you told me, she stopped an invasion and saved the galaxy from certain doom."

"Yes. That's…the gist of it," said Liara. "Not only that, but she had been chasing a super soldier. A turian Spectre named Saren. He was the one that led the invasion. She…put an end to his madness." Her eyes then became misty from the tears. "I was part of her ground team. And I saw her die on the Normandy…"

"Sounds like you were a good friend to her," Ethan commented.

Liara nodded somberly. "She was tough and stern, but also a friend to those she cared about. And an extraordinary woman."

"And now we're finding her corpse," Feron dryly.

"To pay for the funeral, of course," Ethan replied as he turned to the drell before looking back at Liara. "I know it's hard for you, but sooner or later, the only thing you can do is to accept her death, dust yourself off, and move on."

Liara let out a sigh. "I know, but…"

"Begin again, but know when to let go," the Courier said rather cryptically. Ever since he arrived here on Omega, he didn't know what to do. Everywhere he went, especially at home, he would either encounter a group or someone trying to kill him or experience something extremely strange, causing such repeated events to make him desensitized. "That's what I have done. No reason for me to let my past take over my life."

The asari said nothing. She looked up to the human as Feron stood off to the side, crossing his arms in front of him. "We'll see," she said. "There'll be an exchange taking place with her body soon. We need to figure out where it's taking place."

Feron nodded, agreeing. "We can ask Aria T'Loak for information," the lizard man suggested. "Come on. I don't think she had left Afterlife since we left." He looked to Ethan. "And on the way, we can get him up to speed as much as possible."

"Oh, boy," Ethan sighed. "Hope I didn't piss her off from the trouble I've caused. Also, I needed to suit up and get ready." He pulled a suitcase nearby his seat. Opening it, it contained a suit of armor, sporting a grey color with red strips on the arms.

Liara glanced to see what Ethan was doing. "Okay," she nodded. "We'll wait, but you better hurry."

As Ethan was about to take off the paddings from his jumpsuit, he stopped when Feron spoke.

"Oh, and Mr. Sunderland? It's good to have you with us," the drell told the Courier.

The human nodded. "Yeah," Ethan replied. "I'm one of the best couriers out there, long as the package isn't too big and it doesn't involve children, pets, or any devices that triggers a catastrophic event."

With this, Feron and Liara left the room as Ethan began putting on the armor. He was beginning to develop an appreciation for the asari.


	3. Chapter Two: When Good Plans go Wrong

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I don't own the Mass Effect franchise nor the Fallout franchise. They each belong to their respective owners (BioWare and EA of Mass Effect and Bethesda of Fallout). If you're lost but wanted to catch up on the lore of the setting, I would recommend you to check out their respective wikis. Watch out for spoilers!**_

_**Also, I would like to thank Caddy-shack of the PPC (Protectors of Plot Continuum. They're a group of people that "spork", or riff in-universe, some bad fanfiction. They had some really good stories, so I would recommend you should check them out when you get the chance) and 4Ferelden of the Mass Effect wiki for being my beta readers (At this point, 4Ferelden might as well be my co-author since he basically has rewritten parts of this chapter). Thank you very much!**_

_**Now that's out of the way, I would like to apologize for taking so long to finish this chapter. It took longer than I have expected. Also, this rewrite will be different from the original Mass Vexations: Redemption, so expect to be surprised.**_

_**And now, enjoy the story!**_

* * *

**Chapter Two**

**When Good Plans Go Wrong**

It was quite a lot for Ethan to take, with all of that information. He and the others, including Miranda, rode in a hovercar across Omega to their destination. The armor he just put on was bulkier compared to Liara's, but it was flexible enough for him to provide some mobility. An omni-tool was also implanted into the armor, saving him some time using it, while his Pip-Boy was fitted on his left arm, much to the surprise of everyone but him, bio-metric seals and all.

His thoughts turned back to his home universe, wondering how it was holding up without him. He remembered rumors of Ulysses single-handedly wiping out most of the Tunnelers' nest in the Divide, the standard of living in the Mojave improving thanks to the combined efforts of the NCR and the Followers of the Apocalypse, with the Brotherhood of Steel patrolling I-15 and Highway of 95. However, their efforts were wrought with complaints of the NCR being somewhat invasive with people's privacies, bureaucracy, among other things. But the last time he was there, the Think Tank remained blissfully ignorant of the world at large, trapped in a loop, likely unaware of his disappearance, with none the wiser.

His thoughts then turned to his old friends at the Mojave; ED-E, Boone, Cass, Veronica, Arcade, Raul, Lily, Rex, Cristina, Dog and God, Dean (though he hated that ghoul's guts from time to time), and Ulysses, among countless others. Ever since the Second Battle at Hoover Dam, much of them parted ways.

He looked back from the window to the datapad he was holding in his hands as he read through it. In it, he read the dossier of Lieutenant Commander Madison Shepard. Her childhood was spent on spaceships and stations with her naval family. Following in her family's footsteps, she signed up with the Alliance at the age of 18. However, later in her career, her whole squadron was wiped out by a thresher maw during her first mission on the planet Akuze. Then, she was recently assigned to the SSV Normandy, and wounded up in a chase against Saren after the attack on Eden Prime. Thanks to her efforts of finding evidence against the turian, Shepard became the first human Spectre, a top agent working for the Council. Her dossier ended shortly after saving the Citadel, the space station serving as the political capital of the galaxy at large, from Sovereign, which was a sentient ship known by Shepard as a Reaper.

According to her findings, the Reapers are a race of sentient machines that arrive at the galaxy every 50,000 years to wipe out all of galactic civilization, which then they leave, leaving no evidence of their existence. They were the ones that wiped out the Protheans in the last cycle and are also the ones that build the mass relays. He would have a hard time taking them seriously if they didn't destroy entire civilizations at a whim, but he was more concerned about getting back home than some abominations that would wipe out a galaxy he felt was never a part of.

There was much talk between the Courier, Liara, Feron, and Miranda, specifically about the mission and Ethan's past. He was offered compensation and funding for an experiment to repair the Transportalponder on Cerberus' behalf, in exchange for a year of service to the organization and to give them permission to duplicate the Transportalponder. While tempted, the Courier told Miranda, the one that gave him the offer, which he would have to think about it, much to Feron's chagrin.

Finally, they landed at the docking bay, near the nightclub. The transport doors have opened, and the three stepped out. Miranda barely gave them any acknowledgement, aside from reminding them that Feron has connections to certain people, before they moved out.

"Ethan, are you alright?"

"Yeah," Ethan answered as they stood in front of the entrance to the nightclub. "Just a bit occupied with the new stuff I learned." He checked his equipment. He had a total of four weapons: the M-76 Mattock assault rifle, his Predator pistol, the M-97 Viper sniper rifle, and the M-23 Katana shotgun. The armor he wore provided him a much stronger kinetic barrier, which he could last longer in a gunfight before going back to cover. Thankfully, he kept his backpack, which included a steady supply of stimpaks, a Stealth Boy, his Transportalponder, and the grenades he had looted from one of the Blue Suns mercenaries. Cerberus also provided him with a salve known as medi-gel.

Unlike him, Liara and Feron refused to accept weaponry from Cerberus, keeping their previous equipment. Now that Ethan was acquainted with this universe's weaponry, he identified Liara's heavy, almost triangular pistol as an M-5 Phalanx, and her other weapon as M-4 Shuriken, its shape more akin to pistols back at Mojave, but with surprisingly high rate of fire. Feron carried M-29 Incisor sniper rifle and M-9 Tempest submachine gun, letters VTX inscribed across its muzzle.

Feron nodded. "I imagine this is a lot to take in," he mentioned.

"Like getting an infodump, that's for sure," the Courier replied sardonically as he looked at his Pip-Boy to track his objectives. "So this is where we start looking? I hope we're not looking for dancing corpses."

"It's where Aria's throne is, so yes," said Liara, crossing her arms together. "And hopefully not with the dancing corpses, that would have been awkward. But it won't be easy getting an audience with her. From what I heard, she never lets anyone get close to her…"

"I can take care of that," Feron replied as he walked in. "The guards will let you through if you have enough credits."

The human smirked. "You're pretty well-connected for an information broker," he commented, bemused, as they walked down the hallway after Feron bribed the elcor doorman. He was quite impressed at what Feron pulled off, considering how patient elcors tend to be. Holographic images of fire appeared throughout the hallway. Now he thought about it, the name _Afterlife_ made even more sense now. "I take it you're in good relations with the Shadow Broker? That would make a great name for a philanthropist, if you ask me."

If Feron was caught off guard by such a statement, he did a good job of hiding it. "Yes, I am well-connected to many sources," the drell replied. "Even I should know a thing or two about the best information broker in the galaxy, no? I may also know a few of his operatives. They don't take much, but I do know enough."

"We'll have to take Feron's word for it," said Liara. "This is the closest lead we've ever gotten to finding Shepard. I'm not letting this chance slip by."

"We're just looking for some closure, Liara," Ethan replied. "Hell, you would color me surprised if Shepard could be brought back to life, given that stasis pod everyone's been talking about."

And so they entered the bar. Compared to the rest of Omega, the colorful, bright lights contrasted to the dull, brown background. It was filled with more people than Ethan could have imagined. Here, there were hundreds, if not thousands, of people residing in the club, with all the traits a club or casino could have: a bar, people to talk with, pole dancers and strippers. And of course the manager: Aria T'Loak. They even have music there, but with loud techno beats, something the Courier was hardly familiar with.

However, the trio overheard an argument nearby.

"Going somewhere, Hando Due?"

"Hello, Greedro. What brings you here to Omega?"

They turned their attention to a four-eyed being and another one of those metallic-planted things sitting at a nearby table. Ethan assumed that they were what an atypical batarian and turian looked like, though that batarian had this unusual green tone for his skin.

"It's about the money isn't it?" the turian, Hando Due, asked. "Tell him I got the money."

"It's too late for you, Hando!" the batarian, Greedro, answered, pointing his pistol at the turian. "You should've paid him when you had the chance. I bet he'll put a price on your head so large, every bounty hunter in the galaxy will be looking for you. Lucky for me, I found you first."

"Yeah, but this time, I got the money," Hando replied, gesturing with his talons.

"If you give it to me, I might forget I found you."

Feron and Liara gave each other confused looks as the Courier pinched the bridge of his nose, as if he was trying to keep himself from laughing.

"I don't have it with me," the scoundrel replied as he slowly went for his pistol. "Tell him-"

"He's through with the likes of you," the batarian chucked. "He has no use for bodyguards who screws up on the job."

"Even I get boarded sometimes," the turian scoundrel replied angrily. "Do you think I had a choice?"

"You can tell that to him," Greedro smiled. "At best, he may apply red sand directly to your eyes. Or rip out your platings."

"Humph! Over my dead body!"

"That's the idea," the batarian chuckled, feeling confident. "I've been looking forward to this for a long time."

Another turian with white paint on his face walked toward the two at the table. "Hey, knock it off, you too! If you want to kill each other so bad, then take it someplace else!"

Begrudgingly, the turian scoundrel and the batarian obeyed as they sat up and reached for the entrance, where the trio was at.

After the two strangers left, the turian guard approached the trio in question. "Sorry about that," he sighed, "I hate it when people started fighting in a bar. It's bad for business."

"So do we all," Feron replied.

"Say," the turian guard replied as he turned his attention to the Courier. "Aren't' you that guy who has been causing all of that trouble?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Ethan shrugged. "Why do you ask?"

"Because Aria wants to see you, that's why," the turian answered. "She doesn't like it when people like you kept her waiting. So follow me."

The turian left, the three followed suit. Almost immediately, Liara turned to Ethan. "What in the name of the Goddess just _happened_?" she asked. "That was…I…I can't even imagine how incredibly strange that was."

"Do these types of situations happen around you a lot?" Feron asked.

"Yeah, but I tend to take it in stride. I'm sure you'll like it soon enough. Or maybe not," Ethan said flippantly.

Feron glanced to the side. "I see…" he said nervously.

"Well, I don't have anything else to say, aside from being granted an audience with Aria," Liara commented.

"Yes," the drell agreed, "this was much easier to attain." They began walking up the stairs. "Well, let's see what she wants. Hopefully, she has the coordinates for where the exchange is taking place."

As they reached past two short flights of stairs, they saw a purple-skinned asari slouching on a bleak leather couch across from where they're at. She looked down at the bar, with the surrounding guards watching their every move. The asari wore a black skin-suit underneath her white jacket, with tattoos laid out across her face. Unlike Liara, she did not have what appeared to be eyebrows.

"All right, boss. Here he is, like you requested," the turian spoke, approaching the asari in question.

"Good," said the purple-skinned asari as she sat up. "You're dismissed, Preitor." She turned her attention to the newcomers as the turian, Preitor, walked downstairs back to the club. "That's close enough. Scan them for weapons."

A batarian guard nodded and approached Ethan. "Stand still," he said as he activated his omni-tool and scanned the human in question. His omni-tool displayed a holographic projection of a human skeleton.

"Uh, FYI, there's a gun right here and a few more on my back," Ethan deadpanned as he showed the batarian his pistol. "Seems to be that you're not doing a good job of looking for weapons."

"Perhaps," the asari chuckled. "But this is a standard procedure. Nobody gets close until they get scanned."

"All right, then," Ethan replied as he put his pistol away.

The asari smirked. "That's what I thought."

A beep sounded from the batarian's omni-tool. "He's clean. No funny business."

Ethan nodded. But before he could say or do anything else, Feron stepped forward.

"We're here for information, merchandise mainly—the body of Commander Shepard," Feron spoke. "I've heard that the Blue Suns are set to deliver here to the Shadow Broker. We need to know where."

"One thing at a time, Feron. I know the Shadow Broker preferred secrecy and discretion, but not enough for a competent broker like you to know," said Aria. "But first, I need to have a talk with your human friend here." She then stood up. "Do you know who I am?"

Ethan sighed, biting his lower lip. He had a bad feeling that she knew he obviously wasn't around here and could use that to her advantage. He didn't like the direction this conversation was taking. "From what I've heard, you're Aria T'Loak, ruler of Omega," he answered, playing along. "Or boss, CEO, or even queen, if I'm feeling pretty dramatic." He gestured with his hands, air-quoting on the word 'queen'.

"Guess you're feeling rather light-hearted today," Aria remarked. "I figured you already know one rule on Omega." She smirked. "'Don't fuck with Aria.' However, this has been…complicated by a few things."

And to the Courier's lack of surprise at the turn of events, one of the guards lifted his omni-tool and broadcasted the surveillance video. In it, the alleyway was empty; hardly anyone in there. Then, just a few minutes later, there was a flash of light, followed by static. The screen restored back to normal after a few seconds. This time, he saw himself lying against the wall moments before regaining his consciousness.

_I have a bad feeling about this_, the human thought as he rubbed his chin. The broadcast disappeared as the guard lowered his omni-tool.

"I contacted my tech specialist to check it over. He told me the camera was disrupted by what he would call an anomaly. Obviously, this means you're extremely dangerous. This is…rather sensitive information," said the overlord of Omega, crossing her arms in front of her. "And if there's one thing I hate more than people fucking with me, it's an anomaly appearing with no explanation that could disrupt the balance of power." She then chuckled rather darkly. "But lucky for you, we may be able to come to an arrangement, one that could benefit both sides."

"What arrangement are we talking about here?" asked the Courier.

"From the way you looked, I expected someone left you for dead," Aria answered. "I can offer you protection on the condition that you work with me as a bodyguard, or any other position suitable for your talents, for a year."

"Funny. Cerberus has offered me the same thing: some odd jobs for them in exchange for payment and funds to a…secret project," said Ethan.

Aria raised her eye ridges. "Oh? And how much are they paying you for this project?" she asked. "I can offer you the same thing and much more.

"More than enough to cover what I need," the Courier cryptically replied. "But on two more conditions." He raised his right index finger. "First, like Feron said, we need the coordinates for the exchange of Commander Shepard's body. Second, I wouldn't come off as light as your average bodyguard. Even better, I'm a courier. I would like a large sum on your behalf if I wanted the job."

"Ethan, we have a job to do here as well," Feron reminded the Courier.

"More conditions?" asked Aria. "I could just hand over the footage to whoever wanted you dead and get rid of the problem."

"Yeah, I got enemies—but it doesn't help when they're…so far away to make it over here to kill me," Ethan retorted.

"I'm giving you a chance here," said Aria. "My guards saw what you did. I didn't think any human would know about the krogan's headcrest, so you know your way around a dangerous situation. A good survival trait."

"But…?" Ethan asked, suspicious.

Aria scoffed. "You can either accept my terms or be left to the mercy of Omega. Your choice."

"But the exchange—!" Feron exclaimed.

"The Shadow Broker made sure I know about the exchange," Aria explained. "He gave me the full details."

Liara stepped forward. "So you're aware the Collectors receiving Shepard's remains, correct?"

This caused the ruler of Omega to blink. "The Collectors?" she asked uncertainly.

"Huh. Thought you knew everything that happened on Omega—" the Courier replied.

"Except when relevant parties leave out certain information," the purple-skinned asari frowned. "This has placed things in a predicament here." She leaned forward, looking at the three in question. "You said you needed information?"

"Yes. This is an urgent matter," Feron answered.

Aria smiled. "Tell you what," she replied. "I don't like it when certain people leave out details for exchanges on my rock. So thanks to your friend bringing this up, I think I will accept our conditions, if you accept the offer. But if you arrive straight back here, then you'll accept the job. Is that clear?"

_About to point that out, but I was beaten to it. Thanks, Aria!_ "Loud and clear," Ethan replied flippantly. "So are you going to give us Shepard's coordinates?"

"I suppose that can be arranged," said Aria. "The exchange is taking place in the lower levels. "It's an old mining facility pretty far from here." She keyed a few things on her omni-tool. "This is where it's taking place."

A ping sounded from the three's omni-tools and, strangely enough, on Ethan's Pip-Boy as well. "What in the…?" he muttered as he switched tabs on his Pip-Boy. On the map, a marker was placed near the lower levels of Omega, where he assumed was the mining facility was at. He knew his Pip-Boy could wireless retrieve information from a variety of sources. But from something as advanced as the omni-tool? It was unexpected; even it had the same frequency as the Pip-Boy.

"Huh. Thanks," said the Courier as he looked at Aria. "Guess we'll be on our way, then."

Aria looked back at Ethan. "Do you have a name?"

After a moment of hesitation, Ethan said, "Most people would call me the Courier. Better than 'the Most Sane Man that makes a difference'."

The asari nodded, bemused by Ethan's reply. "Just get your job done."

And with that over, the three walked down the stairs, sauntered past the crowd, and left the bar.

* * *

"I'm confused by your actions, Ethan," said Liara. She, Feron, and Ethan rode in a cab as they traveled to their destination. "Why would you consider the jobs offered by Aria and Cerberus?

Ethan sat to the right of the asari, with Feron sitting behind him. "If I'm going to be stuck here for a while, I would have to earn a living. Also, having people who owe me some favors would make things a lot easier for me."

"You do realize Aria's ruthless, right?" Feron asked.

"Like I haven't noticed that one before," Ethan retorted. "I had my fair share with people like her. I know what I'm doing."

Feron shook his head. "You _hoped_ you know what you're doing," he deadpanned. "Also, Cerberus is pro-human. You haven't discarded what I said about them, right?"

"Of course I haven't," the Courier scoffed. "Any group with a supremacist agenda that perverts a name from ancient civilization is just asking for trouble."

The drell sighed. "Then what about the Alliance or perhaps even work as a freelancer? Have you even thought about that?" Feron asked.

Ethan blinked. "Good point," he admitted. "I'll have to think about it."

After the cab landed, the three exited the vehicle, with the human following behind Feron and Liara. There, in front of them, stood the old mining facility. Strangely enough, there weren't any Suns outside, so they assumed the exchange was taking place inside the plant.

Ethan looked at the plant, noticing a blue light glowing in a similar manner to biotics. "Hey, what kind of factory is this?" he asked.

"This is an element zero processing plant," Feron answered. "This asteroid was rich with them, which is one of the reasons why Omega was built on it. From the looks of it, this place was just abandoned. The workers must have been in a hurry leaving this plant behind. I can't blame them, given their predicament."

The Courier turned to Feron, "Okay, now I have a ton of questions to ask about that."

"I'm certain you do," Feron replied. "We can talk about this later when get Shepard's body."

Liara looked at the plant nervously. "Still, it's strange to think that Shepard's in there," she commented.

"We have nothing else to go on," said Feron. "This is the closest any has come to finding Shepard."

Liara nodded. "You're right," said the former archaeologist. "We can't turn back now." She took a deep breath. "Any idea how we can get in undetected?"

The Courier had a second of thinking of a solution before Feron stepped forward. "We can sneak through the wastewater pipes," said the drell. "The main entrance's likely locked. If we try to break in through there, they'll know we're here."

Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Traveled around Omega a lot?" he asked.

"More or less," Feron answered flippantly. "The pipes are tainted with radiation from the exotic material, so no one in their right mind would guard them without getting radiation sickness, not even a turian, and they have metallic exoskeletons."

Ethan was taken aback by what he just heard. "Radioactive?" he asked. "Well, it's a good thing my Pip-Boy has a Geiger counter."

Feron nodded. "Yes, but we don't have a lot of time left. Come on."

With this, the drell went on ahead to the plant. Ethan and Liara followed him closely behind. The three crouched down as they approached the entrance undetected and followed the pipes on the walls. When they reached a catwalk to their right, they noticed that some of the pips are conveniently fashioned itself into a set of stairs, which would be used as a shortcut into the wastewaters undetected, Feron climbed on a series of pipes until he reached the top, where he pointed out to Eth and Liara. The other two followed closely behind the drell.

They walked on until they noticed a pipe large enough for them to fit through. As they approached the pipe, Feron saw a yellow sign that read _Warning: Wastewater radioactive from element zero. Please keep away without protection._

"Well, that's nice of them," Ethan quipped. As they approached the large pipe, the Geiger counter on his Pip-Boy began to tick. Knowing this, he pulled out an orange pill bottle labeled _Rad-X_ out of his backpack, opened it up, and poured out three capsules. He handed two of them to Liara and Feron, who exchanged confused looks.

"That's Rad-X. It builds up resistance in your body against radiation for a while," said the Courier. Then then popped his pill into his mouth and swallowed it. "Bottoms up." With that, he was the first one to enter the pipe.

Liara glanced at her pill before sighing. "Ethan's world has made some strange developments." She then swallowed hers and, immediately after, Feron did the same thing. The two then entered the pipe, following behind the Courier.

As they traveled down the pipe, with Ethan's Pip-Boy continuing to tick, they noticed how heavy security was inside the facility, with the Blue Suns mercenaries of various races patrolling the corridors. Eventually, they exited the pipe and onto the control room. Their feet soaked from slouching through the wastewater, they dried them off and left the empty room behind. Ethan somewhat nauseated as the effects of Rad-X wore off, but he was glad that he was out of that radioactive pipe.

On the way, they saw a female turian clad in Blue Suns armor passing by, a shotgun identical to the Courier's own hanging on her back. She looked rather different from her male counterpart, as she lacked the crest of horns found in male turians.

Hiding in the shadows, the three saw the female turian walking down the corridor, her hand placed next to a turians' equivalent of the ear, with two more Suns, both humanoid in shape and male, followed closely behind her, their facial features hiding underneath their helmets.

Tentatively, Liara raised her hands in front of her as she began to prepare her biotics. However, she was stopped by Ethan, who reminded here that they don't want any unwanted attention, Nodding, Liara saw the mercs passed by without incident.

Soon after, the three made to a window where they could get a good vantage point into the hangar. Conveniently, there are boxes and crates scattered about, which would act as cover. Ethan nodded to this and the other nodded back silently as they find a way to the platform in question.

Almost immediately, they heard footsteps coming in towards them. Not just singular footsteps either; from what it sounded like, there were a whole legion of them. Thankfully, as the mercenaries were about to pass them by, Feron found a door to the platform, so the three filled in. As they entered the platform, they quickly hid behind the boxes.

There, they saw a huge number of Blue Suns mercenaries, carrying a variety of weapons, surrounding the coffin-shaped stasis pod. Ethan surmised that it must be where Shepard's body was at. However, it was too close to a Blue Suns vessel for his comfort.

Then, a strangely shaped ship flew into the hangar, landing soon after. The three watched as an absolute huge, horned man walked out of the ship. Everything about him was imposing, even from the distance they were watching from. The Courier thought it was atypical for a salarian to be this large, since they were usually physically weaker and more fragile than the other races. The salarian was carrying a large gun as he sauntered over to the Suns.

Feron tensed, his black eyes betraying the slightest hint of fear as he inhaled deeply to settle his nerves.

"Tazzik…" he muttered.

The Courier smirked. "Him?" he asked as he looked at the large salarian walking to a coffin-like container. "Jesus, they sure grow him large in their neighborhood, don't they?"

Feron shook his head, ignoring Ethan's attempt at humor. "This just went from bad to worse..."

"Feron?" asked Liara nervously.

The drell and the human looked to the salarian in question. "That's the Shadow Broker's top hitman. Tazzik never gets called in unless the Broker really wants results. He gets them almost all the time. This may be more serious than we could have anticipated…"

"Sure, that's what people always say about them before they wind up dead," the Courier replied sardonically. He glanced at the crates near the ship and looked to his right to see an unmanned turret. "This could give out a nasty surprise. Liara, think you can use your biotics to haul these crates at the mercenaries? You can take out large groups, given the size and weight of these things." He leaned in closer to get a better look at them.

"I…" Liara squinted, looking at the crates in question. Some of them seemed like ordinary crates, filled with mining equipment and batteries, but the other crates are also filled with processed element zero. When tossed at a high enough velocity, they can be deadly. After a second, she nodded. "Yes," she replied. "I can handle the crates. But I'm not going to like this, Ethan."

Feron nodded as well. "And I'll handle the mass accelerator turret. From the looks of it, it seemed a bit broken. It's not really difficult to fix with some omni-gel," he stated as he approached the turret in question. "And I must say, Ethan, this is dangerous business, disregarding a threat like Tazzik in such a manner."

Liara nodded in agreement with Feron on the salarian in question. "That grenade launcher could cause a lot of damage if we don't move quickly…"

"That's a grenade launcher? Like the one that turian was carrying when we were ambushed earlier?" Ethan asked as he saw three mercenaries trying to lift the stasis pod carefully. "They looked different than the ones I saw back at my universe."

"No. Put it down!" They heard Tazzik barking out orders. The three mercs in question instantly pulled their hands away from the pod.

The three paused, not saying anything. Seconds later, the Suns moved along. Liara turned to her allies. "Yes, that's right," she answered. "But we need to move. I'll handle the crates to take out anyone far from Shepard while Feron will shoot at the ship with the turret, Ethan. Is there something else you had in mind?"

Ethan did not say anything. He got out his Viper sniper rifle, positioned it on the rails, and looked through the scope as he aimed at Tazzik's head. He had a clear shot on this one. However, after he pulled the trigger, one of the mercs spotted his as she turned around. And he thought that kind of bad luck only happened in New Vegas. It sure as hell didn't apply to him that often.

"We got hostiles!" shouted a batarian merc, grabbing a Vindicator rifle.

"Ethan, get back to cover!"

When he fired the shot earlier, the Courier noticed a blur surrounding Tazzik's body, indicating that his shields were down. Ethan tried to go for another shot, but with the amount of gunfire focusing on him, he ducked behind the waist-high railing and switched to his Mattock. He popped back up and fired at the mentioned merc that shot him.

It took a few seconds to take him out, with the kinetic barriers and all. "I like this gun already!" the Courier grinned devilishly at the Mattock's superior firepower. "Liara, take them out!"

Liara took a deep breath and tentatively turned to the crates that were off to the side. Glowing blue, she stood up and seized them with her biotics. Before they could get up in the air, they exploded on the spot, scorching the floor and sending debris everywhere. Ethan ducked behind cover with a stunned look on his face, barely avoiding a heavy battery travelling mere inches from his head.

When the sounds of explosions had died out, the three saw Tazzik standing stock-still, his grenade launcher smoking from the barrel. The huge salarian haven't even moved a muscle since the crates had blown up. He simply looked at where Ethan and Liara were at with a mildly annoyed expression on his face.

"My turn," Tazzik growled as he aimed his grenade launcher at where they were at and fired several times.

"Shit, grenade! Move it!" Ethan exclaimed. He quickly pushed Liara out of the way and leaped into another spot as the grenades landed at their spots. The wave of explosions knocked them off the ground as Feron turned the turret toward the ship. He began firing a few rounds at it as they impact a few spots on the ship's hull.

But Tazzik was not the type to be deterred. He turned his grenade launcher on Feron's turret, launching a few grenades at it as the Blue Suns opened fire on the drell's position. With a slight shift in his expression, Feron abandoned his post very quickly. He leaped off the seat right as a missile from a Blue Suns Heavy's weapon landed where he had just been before. He had only managed to roll away when the explosion knocked him off his feet. He was lucky he landed behind cover, but the drell seemed shaken as he looked over to Ethan and Liara.

Tazzik then fired another round of grenades at Ethan, but Liara threw a biotic barrier around the two of them in time. She turned to face Feron as the drell pushed himself up on his arms.

"Spirits! Careful with that grenade launcher, Tazzik!" one of the mercs, a turian, shouted below. "You could've ruined that stasis pod!"

"The platform wasn't even close to Shepard," Tazzik replied, irritated. "This is why I work alone..."

"Feron, get over here!" Liara yelled.

The drell shakily managed to get up as he limp the rest of the way in a half-crouched position.

His shields recharging and injured from the grenades, the Courier pulled a stimpak out of his backpack and stuck it on his right leg. The fragments fell from his body as his wounds started to heal, stitching together like cloth in a sewing machine. He then dragged Feron toward the nearest crate to support his weight and administered some medi-gel on the drell. The Courier turned and fired at the mercs, taking them out one at a time.

The combat resumed after that, but Courier soon saw that it was hopeless. Not only did the Suns have a clear numerical advantage, but this time they had a Commander leading them, an Oriental woman wielding an M-76 Revenant. While they were avoiding Tazzik's grenade salvo, she managed to get all her troops behind whatever sparse cover there was, making sure weakest mercs got the best positions. Liara had hurriedly put her into a stasis field, but the damage had already been done.

The weakest troops maintained steady suppressive fire above the platform, going back to cover almost as soon as the trio re-emerged. The heavily shielded veterans then shot at them in three-round bursts of their Vindicators, their special ammo eating through shields at an alarming rate. Worse, a trio of missile launcher-wielding mercs, presumably meant to ensure compliance from Tazzik's gunship, have taken cover where there was no risk of causing friendly fire and let loose with missiles. The latter either slammed into the platform itself, collapsing sections of railing and rattling the floor enough to knock them off their feet, or hit the ceiling, sending the rain of shrapnel raining down on them. Ethan has run low on stims and the Cerberus medi-gel, and between them they have only managed to take down three mercs, and that took their combined fire, the last of Ethan's looted grenades and Liara's biotics.

He edged in closer to Liara and said, "Trust me on this one. I know what I'm doing." With that, he strapped his last Stealth Boy on his wrist and activated it, generating a modulating field, transmitting refracted light from one side of the device to the other, which concealed the Courier from plain sight. With little time to spare, as the Suns closed in on them, the Courier leaped off the platform and rolled on the floor to catch his balance. The adrenaline rushing through his body made him ignore the pain.

However, as he ran for another exit, he saw mercs taking Shepard's pod to Tazzik's ship. Despite the damage done by Feron, it was largely intact. He felt nauseated, guilty that he left his allies to their fate. But on the bright side, he could try to rescue them later, as he has done many times. Even he had failed, they were still almost complete strangers to him and, years ago, he already saw an entire town crucified by Legion and disabled NCR soldiers left to waste away as bait for their comrades. Whatever happened to Liara and Feron, it could hardly be any worse than that.

As he got out of the mining plant, he saw Tazzik's ship taking off from the building—with Shepard's body and possibly Liara and Feron on board.

* * *

Liara was shocked by the turn of events. She saw Ethan disappeared before her eyes after he told her to place her trust in him. At first, it felt like he betrayed her, Feron, _and _Shepard, with him outright attacking the mercs upfront rather than waiting it out. But if he managed to escape, then he can have the chance to finish the mission.

Then, the door through which they entered the platform parted and a group of Suns burst through, wielding Katanas, flamethrowers and even Scimitars. Liara and Feron dropped their weapons and stuck their hands up, knowing that at this range, they would be shredded in a second. One of the mercs grabbed her from behind to prevent her from using her biotics, while another kneed her in the stomach for good measure, knocking the wind out of her. A batarian Centurion grabbed Feron afterwards, holding up the already weakened drell by the arms. They were then dragged downstairs before everyone else.

The Blue Sun commander finally broke free from the stasis field and walked towards them, her eyes burning with hatred. Tazzik has also emerged from the rear, his huge frame beside her, looking pleased with himself in the most obnoxious way possible.

"You have never given any of us the chance to surrender when you began your ambush. Four of my people are dead because of you, their lives cut short. If given the chance, you would have killed many more. You don't deserve any mercy from us and will die here and now, and never to leave this place," the commander spoke with anger and genuine regret. For a moment, Liara sympathised with her. Then she recalled Suns' previous attempt on their lives, and the importance of their mission. Because of these past events, she felt much less charitable toward the commander.

"You are certainly justified in this. However, nothing you can do to them can compare with the abilities of Shadow Broker's servants. They will suffer for hours, and curse ever crossing paths with you. On behalf of the Shadow Broker, I will also compensate you for every soldier lost," Tazzik's tone of voice was much warmer now, but the meaning of the words still terrified Liara and she saw Feron resume his struggles.

The Blue Suns woman thought for a while, her gaze drifting from corpses on the floor to Liara and Feron. Finally, she signed.

"Fine. Make sure they scream extra for my boys."

"Disappointing, Feron. Disappointing," Tazzik scoffed as he turned to the drell. "The Shadow Broker should have expected more from you. But in the end, you became nothing more than a liability."

Liara looked right at the drell, shocked to hear this. "F…Feron…?"

"He's handing Shepard's body to the Collectors," the drell replied, defiantly facing the hitman. "I found out through extraneous channels. I won't work with anyone who makes deals with them, especially not ones where—"

One of the mercs elbowed Feron hard in the stomach, interrupting him mid-sentence as Tazzik shook his head.

'A profit's a profit. We sell to the highest bidder, no matter who we buy or sell to. You have known that since day one, Feron."

Feron simply looked at Tazzik. "I think this is where you and I come to a disagreement," he said. "I can't work for him knowing what he was going to do here and now…" he chuckled. "I think you and I both knew this would end up with me leaving the Shadow Broker eventually, Tazzik."

Tazzik nodded in agreement. "You were an ally, Feron. One of the best and most valuable information brokers, in fact. But both of us should know what we do to traitors," the hitman spoke coldly.

"You assume I don't know what he does to them," Feron replied, giving the giant salarian an extremely bitter smile. "Sometimes, Tazzik, there are risks that everyone needs to take. I took mine, and I know the consequences of doing so."

Liara turned to the drell. "Feron, what are you saying?" she asked.

"I'm saying it won't be…pleasant, to say the least," replied the drell.

"Oh, Goddess," Liara muttered under her breath.

Tazzik nodded once again. "You're correct about not it being pleasant," he said. "It'll be worse than what your asari friend will be getting. As for your human friend that fled, I'm surprised he managed to pull that off, given his tenacity. Furthermore, he appeared on Omega without any known means of transportation. He didn't have any form of identification, not even traces of DNA that matched with anyone. And yet, people are already talking about—"

"You wanted to recruit him," Feron stated, figuring out Tazzik's intention. "Too bad that's not likely to happen, given the hostilities between you and him."

The large salarian scoffed. "Of course," the hitman replied. He turned his attention to Liara. "And here we got Dr. Liara T'Soni. While it was obvious that a fiend of her would come along to find Shepard, I'm surprised you haven't brought anyone else."

Liara simply shifted. "Of course," the asari replied. "Someone would've come for her eventually."

"Your friends have moved on by now, thinking the Commander's dead," the hitman stated, pulling out a syringe and checked the dosage. Liara tensed at what he was going to do. "But you haven't."

With this, he struck the syringe at the asari in the neck. Liara slumped to the ground as she attempted to look around her surroundings. She felt light-headed, her vision fading away as the drug started to kick in.

"Put them in my ship. The Shadow Broker will be pleased to hear this, given the circumstances…" Liara heard Tazzik spoke. "And find this 'Courier'. He hasn't gone far from here. I want him alive for questioning, but if he's not…then I understand."

Before losing consciousness, Liara saw a few figures departing as she was being dragged by her arms.


	4. Chapter Three: Responsibility

_**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Hello, my fellow readers! I apologize this chapter has taken much longer to write than I have thought. College and family matters have distracted me from finishing this work. Hopefully, that won't be the case for the next chapter. Also, I almost forgot to inform you that this fic, and the now-deleted Mass Vexations: Redemption, is based on the Mass Effect: Redemption comic book mini-series. As such, disclaimers. The **_**Mass Effect**_** franchise is owned by BioWare and Electronic Arts while the **_**Fallout **_**franchise is owned by Bethesda, with Obsidian Entertainment on **_**Fallout: New Vegas.**

_**I would like to thank 4Ferelden of the Mass Effect Wiki, who has helped me with the fic and, in fact, has written the beginning of this chapter. I found it to be a huge improvement to what I envisioned originally, so I'll give him credit. I would also thank Konous of the Dragon Age wiki for looking over this chapter and suggested a few things.**_

_**And now, a few words from 4Ferelden:**_

_**4Ferelden: Many of you will know that many game mechanics had undergone changes in between ME1 and ME2; since our story is set in between the two, we couldn't ignore those. As such, we ultimately decided to use ME2 guns in the fic, since it the change from self-cooling to thermal clips had to take longer than two years, and mercs in Terminus Systems are likely to obtain the newer guns earlier than those in other sectors. The shields still work they did in ME, though, both for external reasons and because the ME2 changes to shielding seemed to be more on the programming level to recognize greater range of damage sources than anything else, and thus could easily be done in the space of two years or less.**_

_**With this out of the way, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter and the rest of this story!**_

* * *

**Chapter Three**

**Responsibility**

Having escaped the compound through the still-open hangar gate, the Courier sprinted as fast as he could acutely aware of both the stim's effects wearing off and the need to conserve the power on the Stealth Boy. He turned it off as soon as soon as he was sure of being unseen and made the rest of the way to the grey hovercar they arrived in. He thought of trying to jury-rig the controls to be able to drive it, but soon dismissed the idea. Not only would this be needlessly dangerous, but at this point he had no idea where to intercept Tazzik and his captives, and he might be able to find out from captured Blue Suns.

Having decided on that, Ethan had crouched down behind the hovercar, knowing that mercenaries would eventually have to investigate this lone car. He didn't have to wait for long: soon, the Tazzik's gunship had flown out of hangar, flying overhead and forcing Ethan to re-activate the Stealth Boy to avoid being seen. The gunship continued on its way after slightly slowing down; but then the gates of the main entrance have opened and five hovercars emerged, all plain-colored, but with Blue Suns' insignia mounted on the roof like Old World taxi signs back at home. Ethan presumed this arrangement let them get around quickly at times like these, yet perform covert missions in same vehicles once the insignia has been removed.

This was the wrong time to consider such details, however, as the mercenaries' headlights illuminated the vehicle. Ethan's heart sank as he realized he would have no chance to fight or flee if they all decided to investigate this car, and he briefly considered jumping in and ramming one of them to go out heroically. Luckily, that wasn't to be, as the tail vehicle turned to his location, while the rest of the convoy sped off towards the more populated areas of the hive. The Courier prepared to fight, for the first time alone and without any advantage.

The car finally stopped a short distance away, and a tanned female Centurion walked out, followed by a batarian male with a flamethrower and a turian with another Katana. The car driver, a human trooper with M-8 Avenger, remained seated, seemingly bored by the proceedings. Ethan briefly considered sniping the pyro's fuel tank again, but the batarian kept his position slightly behind and in between others, so that the fuel tank would be obscured by their frames.

"So, why are we here alone again?" the turian asked.

"To see if the human that calls himself 'the Courier' is still lurking around, like this car over there, instead of leaving in another vehicle, as everyone else thinks," said the batarian. "Besides, Tazzik ordered us to find and capture him. If we can't capture him, then at least we can have an excuse to kill someone."

"Hump, yeah right," the human trooper responded, turning his head to the batarian. "Have you seen the way he fought? I don't like the idea of going after that guy."

"Settle down, Peter," said the female Centurion as images appeared on her omni-tool. Judging from the distance, Ethan could infer that these were images of him, likely taken from security cameras. "Anyway, this man is Caucasian with a bit of a Mediterranean heritage. He's identified with dark-brown hair and eyes, along with other notable features, such as a scar over his right eye. He frequently uses a device of some sort on his left wrist."

"You're quite thorough," the turian mercenary commented.

"It's what lets me have a good job," the woman replied as she glanced at Ethan's cab. She gestured to the turian. "Check it out and see if there's any information they've left behind that could be important."

The turian nodded. "Yes, ma'am," he replied as he approached the hovercar.

The turian headed over to the car's boot; as he bent down, the Courier finally struck, grabbing him by the neck and forcing his head against the cold metal, just as the Stealth Boy finally gave up and burned out, exposing him to sight. Ethan, knowing his best chance of answers was with the Centurion, had coolly slit the turian's throat in one motion and let him bled out as he went behind the frame.

"You'll pay for this!" the Centurion shouted. "Jath'Kar, get him!"

"I don't want to go up in a fireball just yet! Peter, start the engine!" the batarian replied.

Ethan, thinking he was going back to their vehicle, leaned out and tried to snipe his fuel tank with the Predator like before… only to be caught in the long burst of flame fired over the corner. He had to back down and rolled to the side in attempt to extinguish the flame, but to no avail. Through the pain, he plainly remembered the words of the shopkeeper: "_The shields do nothing against heat, acid or slow-moving objects._" That same limitation which made his Bowie so effective was now working against him. Luckily, the Cerberus armor possessed greater heat resistance than most Mojave armors; the Courier wished he had this when facing the flame-obsessed Cook-Cook to eradicate the leadership of the Fiends.

"What's the matter, Courier? Aren't you humans meant to like the smell of napalm? Or is 3 AM on Omega too early in the morning for you?" The batarian taunted him, continuing to advance.

Ethan managed a smile, in spite of the forming burns on his body. Apparently even in this galaxy, the Vietnam War classic existed and was known by aliens. That would be as good as any, as he was being surrounded now, with the Centurion finally getting him in her sights and the Pyro getting ready for the second burst. This was probably fitting, he thought, as he served his role in his home universe well and never belonged here, in the strange galaxy that advanced past the nuclear war. He could see the batarian grinning confidently, ready to avenge his co-workers, maybe even his friends…

...Before slipping on the turian's fresh blood, falling backwards, the flamethrower's burst not hitting anything. At the same time, the Centurion did manage a shot, but her three-round burst couldn't get through the entirety of his shields, even with her special ammo. Before she could prepare for the second burst, Courier had attacked her with his knife. He pushed her rifle out of her hands with difficulty, but she managed to grab his knife arm and a struggle ensued.

Initially, it seemed like they were evenly matched, Centurion's ferocity countering Ethan's skill. The breakthrough came when she attempted to kick him in the crotch, telegraphing her move in a manner akin to many raiders Courier fought before. He thus swiftly moved away and took advantage of her uneven balance to finally push her against the car's frame, his knife at her throat, and just in time! The final merc, Peter, had finally restarted the car and arrived at the scene just then, the batarian jumping into the open passenger door. The vehicle was now suspended in the air, both mercs aiming their weapons right at him, only stopped by the proximity of the Centurion. Realizing the way things turned, Ethan had to state the inevitable.

"Just tell me where Tazzik's ship is, and you'll get her back alive and go home!"

"Why should we trust you? You and your 'friends' have already invaded this compound and opened fire on us without provocation. Just now, you have murdered Arand here in cold blood! You have been consistently killing your way through the situation; why stop now once you got what you want?" the same batarian, who Ethan now recalled was named Jath'Kar, replied.

Ethan was only slightly fazed by this, too used to of the retort of guilt from several people like House and Elijah. "And what other choice you have, again? It's not like you would just open fire while your beloved officer is here? And if your guys haven't bothered to attack Liara and Feron, I probably wouldn't be here in the first place. So tell me the coordinates now, or we can see how well this vehicle fares as a funeral engine."

These words clearly had some effect on the human driver, who shuddered and was forced to look up at him from his omni-tool. The batarian also was trying to come up with a response. The Centurion he was holding hostage, however, had defiantly addressed his speech.

"The drell was one of the Shadow Broker employees himself! He knew that we or the Broker would gladly give that glorified coffin to him, if he could beat the price he needed. Do you honestly believe yourself that she can be resurrected after falling from a spaceship? This was always a pointless exercise and they will get what they deserve at the Shadow Broker's hands!"

Ethan was somewhat surprised at the revelation, but soon realized that it had no real bearing on the events. He still wouldn't abandon the drell because of his past, and Cerberus wouldn't accept that reasoning from him either. He wondered whether Suns had any real plan or were just delaying the necessary decision. He looked back at the car, with batarian still waiting for an answer, and the driver going back to his omni-tool. He realized why the human trooper was using his omni-tool: he's calling for back-up from other vehicles, with other mercs merely distracting him with their speeches to give him time. More fighting was inevitable, so Ethan approached the problem in the most efficient way.

Without any warning, he killed Centurion in the same way as the turian. He then rolled underneath the Cerberus hovercar before the dying body had even hit the ground. The driver, still distracted with omni-tool, simply couldn't react in time and Jath'Kar didn't dare to shoot while she was still alive. As soon as he understood what happened, however, his demeanor had changed.

"He killed her! Peter, are you finally done with the car?"

"Holy shit! Fuck, she's dead! Wh-what do we do now?"

"Use our mobility, you idiot! It's time to cremate him, here and now!"

Ethan had used the brief respite to apply his last stimpak, healing the wounds, alongside the slow regenerating abilities of his PHOENIX Monocyte Breeder, and giving him another burst of speed. He needed all of it, as the hovercar had finally kicked into gear, its freakish maneuverability easily allowing it to catch up in no time, the pyro activating his flamethrower yet again as Ethan tried to flank the machine.

The flames had hit him yet again, though this time the impact was blunted by the long-suffering Cerberus car being in the line of fire. Ethan sincerely hoped they wouldn't force him to personally pay for it, as it was engulfed in flames now, fire spreading through the open passenger compartment and setting it ablaze, lighting up the area and making him even more of a sitting duck. The hovercar was turning back and going after him again, the batarian prepared for another run.

With no options left, Ethan grabbed his Predator and emptied the clip inside the passenger compartment. There was no time to use the VATS, and Jath'Kar was trying to obscure his fuel tank as much as possible anyway, so instead he aimed the entire burst above his shoulder, counting on the ricochet to burst his fuel tank.

Incredibly, it worked. The fuel tank cracked and there was a hiss, indicating that batarian was finished. Jath'Kar looked at him with chilling defiance.

"My soul will leave this universe through these eyes. Where would yours go through?" he uttered, and fell—or rather—jumped from the car as Peter was still trying to make another rapid turn, not yet realizing what happened.

The batarian had thus has fell down at high speed in his attempt to take Ethan with him. Understanding this at the last moment, he sprinted as far as possible, desperately attempting to not be caught in the blast.

Thanks to the stims, this almost worked. When the fuel tank ruptured as Jath'Kar hit the ground, he was several meters away and so only at its periphery. In this context, this meant that instead of dying outright, he was instead reduced to rolling on the ground while on fire, screaming in pain. He wondered why the driver hasn't killed him yet, but got his answer soon enough, when he saw the hovercar rapidly getting away at full speed. The young, visibly inexperienced trooper must have snapped from deaths of all his comrades and couldn't take it anymore. While this definitely saved his life, it wouldn't matter when the back-up arrives. His only chance was now to see if Cerberus can rescue him.

He scanned his surroundings, looking at the corpses, then at the dead batarian, whose body was burned to a crisp. Despite the fact that the pyro tried to kill him, along with Ethan having no remorse for killing these types of people, he was grateful that the blast from the tank instantly killed the pyro. Thinking back, he wished that these mercenaries should have taken up his offer so they wouldn't have to waste away their lives against him. He then heard a feminine voice from his headset. It spoke to his right ear.

"Miranda Lawson here."

The Courier jolted his head slightly. _How convenient_, he thought. He tentatively pressed his index and middle fingers against the headset.

"This is the Courier, speaking though this frequency," he said. "Tazzik has taken Shepard's body and brought Liara and Feron along for the ride. Oh, the Blue Suns gave me quite a warm welcome."

He heard an irritated sigh from the Cerberus agent. "Brilliant," she muttered. "First this happened, and now a bloody joke."

"One of the mercenaries mentioned that Shepard could be brought back from the head," said Ethan. "Could that be possible?"

There was a moment of silent from the other end, as if the operative was thinking up a response, stunned at the revelation. "Where did they…?" she asked before sighing. "Nevermind, we have to focus on the assignment. I have just received the hitman's energy signature from one of our agents. Your backup, to be exact."

The Courier raised an eyebrow. "Who's my backup?" he asked suspiciously.

"Like you, he has a codename. Mr. Lynch," Miranda answered. She chuckled to herself. "Why he called himself that, I have no idea."

"Of course he did," Ethan scoffed. "But he better get here soon, 'cause the Blue Suns are bringing in reinforcements."

"I have already taken care of that," a male voice said, suddenly cutting to the frequency. "I'm en route to your location."

Ethan heard sounds of combat booming out in the distance. He turned his head in the opposite direction, finding a small starship heading to his location. It was a small, rectangular ship a short distance away from the hover car. It landed near the burned out hovercar soon after. A moment later, the air inside the ship hissed as the hatch opened, revealing a man several years old than the Courier, sporting short, black hair and a goatee. His skin was tan though he appeared to be Caucasian, and his eyes were a green-ish, grey color. He wore a black jacket over his white armor, hiding his allegiance to Cerberus.

He walked down the hatch and looked around his surroundings, eyeing the corpses, including the burned out one of a batarian near Ethan's feet, and the destroyed hovercar, the fires burning away its hull. The Cerberus agent looked at the Courier and said, "Quite a show you pulled off here. Are you the Courier everyone's been talking about?"

"Guess my reputation precedes me," Ethan replied, approaching the Cerberus agent. "I take it you're Mr. Lynch?"

"Yes."

Ethan looked at the strange ship. "So we're going in that? It doesn't look very suitable in combat."

Mr. Lynch glanced at the ship. "It's a corvette," he explained. "It may not look like much, given the size, but it can perform recon and be able to get into firefights efficiently. It's armed with a few weapons, namely the Javelin weapon system for close quarter combat."

"The Javelin? They're torpedoes that use dark energy to magnify the space-time effects, right?"

"Basically, yes," the agent nodded.

"Huh," the Courier replied, raising an eyebrow. "Why didn't you help us sooner?"

"Before you and the others set out for Afterlife, I offered my assistance, but Dr. T'Soni refused." He then scoffed angrily. "To be honest, it was quite embarrassing to be on standby," Mr. Lynch answered.

He then took a step toward the Courier. "Also, from what I've been told, it seems like you underestimated your opponents," the agent stated, his tone nothing short of serious. "Don't. Your recklessness has caused your allies to get captured. If you don't keep that in check, it will get you and those you care about killed. Cerberus does not tolerate failure."

"Is that supposed to be a threat?" Ethan asked menacingly as he leaned forward.

"No. I am simply stating the fact."

Leaning back, the Courier sighed, placing his hands on his hip as he shook his head. "At least I got out of here alive," he chided. "But right now, it seems a little too convenient with the lack of Blue Suns presence. I thought there would be more Blue Suns coming over this way."

"I only took out a few of the convoys here, but the Blue Suns will still be here with back-up."

"And what about that hovercar over there?" Ethan asked, pointing at the burning hovercar nearby.

Mr. Lynch glanced at the hovercar for a moment. "Unfortunately, there's no way it's usable in that condition, nor would this ship be able to store it. I wish you didn't wreck it, though," he answered. "But we're running out of time. The sooner we leave this place, the better."

The Courier agreed to this, and he and Mr. Lynch walked up the hatch and into a small room. Ethan turned around to see the door closing behind him. Strangely enough, he felt slightly lighter here on the ship. Almost immediately, he realized this room was an airlock when the air hissed to pressurize the room.

"Equalizing exterior atmosphere with interior atmosphere," said a disembodied, monotone as a beam of light swept over the two.

"Better hold on to something, Courier. It's dangerous to stand here unsupported mid-flight," Mr. Lynch reminded Ethan as he placed his hands in a handhold of some sort. The ship began to shake, and the Courier did so, placing his hands in another handhold nearby. After a moment of scanning, the light disappeared.

"Scanning complete. The crew stands at ready," the voice spoke once more as another door opened in front of them. The two brought their hands out of the holds and stepped out of the airlock and into the deck. The place was small, approximately the size of a house, while its shape was round, making it easier to move around the ship. He could even see Cerberus' insignia embedded on the walls. Several humans of various ethnicities are working on the terminals nearby to keep the starship functional. Even a few of them wore the armor of Cerberus. The Courier wouldn't blame them for being in a hurry, given the urgency of the situation.

"Is there any place where I can resupply?" the Courier asked. "I'm a little short on thermal clips, medi-gel, and grenades."

"You can do that at the armory. This way," Mr. Lynch answered, leading the Courier to another room at a small hallway nearby. As the door slid open, the room had numerous weapons and suits of armor. A variety of small arms in different shapes rested across the walls, with a workbench nearby, presumably used to add in modifications of any sort. A shelf stood nearby, also containing weapons on the racks.

"Damn," Ethan commented as he approached the workbench, his face expressing his surprise. "Never thought Cerberus would make it quite a luxury. The best thing I got from them was this Mattock rifle," he said, pointing his thumb at the rifle, which was hanging down on the right side of his back.

"Generally, yes. The Alliance also gives out the state-of-the-art tech as well. When they're expecting the worst in a top-priority mission, it's generally a good idea to be armed with the best toys," Mr. Lynch answered. "I'll be analyzing Tazzik's energy signature and find out where he's going."

With this, the Cerberus agent left the room, leaving Ethan alone to do his business. He grabbed several thermal clips and fitted them into his assault rifle and shotgun, replenished his medi-gel supply from a first-aid cabinet nearby, and grabbed some grenades, fitting them over his waist. The Courier then grabbed an M-29 Incisor sniper rifle and an M-5 Phalanx heavy pistol, each wielded by Feron and Liara respectively. By the time he was done choosing his arsenal, he heard a woman's voice speaking through an intercom nearby.

"Initiating transmission sequence."

He quickly left the armory, making his way to the bridge.

When he arrived at the cockpit, he saw a red-haired woman sitting at the pilot's seat, setting out some calculations for the ship, with Mr. Lynch standing by, his arms crossed. He turned to see the Courier approaching him, nodding in acknowledgement.

"Calculation transit mass and destination," said the pilot as they drew closer to a massive metallic object.

The Courier looked through the window, seeing the object in question. It stood among the billions, if not trillions, of stars out in the distance. The object's long arms stretched out in one direction, the giant rings revolving around a bright, blue core. From what Ethan knew of this universe, that object was a mass relay, a transit device that transports ships throughout each section in the galaxy. Ethan was in awe by the view, reminding him of the Captain Cosmos series. Ever since he was a child, he had a dream to go to space. Now, here he was, flying in outer space on a mission to retrieve the body of a legendary heroine. Unlike that comic book series, it wasn't as clear-cut in terms of morality, being backed by a human-supremacist organization along with him being a cold-blooded killer.

"So where are we going?" Ethan asked as he turned his head to Mr. Lynch.

"We're going to the planet Alingon in the Faryar system. That type of ship couldn't have come from anywhere else but there," the agent answered. "Oh, and we're just about to jump through the mass relay."

"Relay is hot. Acquiring approach vector. Board is green," the pilot stated. "Hitting the relay in 3…2…1…"

When the corvette reached the relay, it propelled the ship, jumping to their destination.

* * *

Liara slowly opened her eyes as they adjusted to the sudden brightness of the room. She found herself lying on a bed in a small cell, its white walls made the room clean and orderly, but chillingly tranquil. She looked at herself, only to find restraints placed on her hands, preventing her from using her biotics. She was also stripped of her weapons and armor, leaving her in her green-and-black uniform.

The asari sat up, only to clumsily fall down on her knees, feeling the effects of the drug wearing off. With some difficulty, she stood back up, using the frames of the bed as support. She wondered where she is right now, but she had hoped that the exchange of Shepard's body hasn't been made yet.

"Incoming transmission," a male, monotone voice spoke across the room.

Liara jolted her head to the source of the voice. There, she saw a video screen across the room. As he approached it, an image of a green, bulky salarian in a dark room came into view. It looked like he was satisfied with himself. "Tazzik..." she muttered, her fear betraying her expression.

"You're awake," said Tazzik. "Good."

Liara blinked once more, shaking her head to ward off the effects of the drug. "Wha...Where am I?" she asked. "Where are Feron and Shepard?"

"You're on the planet Alingon. It'll be very unlikely for you to escape this facility. This planet is shrouded in a magnetically active periclase on its core and crust, cutting off any communication outside our channels," Tazzik replied. "As for Feron..." He glanced to his right before looking back at Liara. "We are in the process of punishing him for his treachery. Don't fret, Shepard's body is with us and thankfully intact."

Liara heard grunting and moaning of pain from the transmission. Then, she heard a gasp for air, as if someone was either suffocating or drowning. "I must say, Tazzik," a man's voice, who Liara recognized as Feron, spoke off screen, "you can get really physical at times, but I would never imagine you would go that far."

The salarian hitman turned his body to the source of the voice. "It was necessary to punish someone like you, Feron," he coolly replied. "And a way to extract information."

"Not a good way to get reliable information, that's for sure," Feron's voice responded. "In case you forget, I am an information broker. Or was, if you would prefer. Have you also forgotten that drell has perfect memory? I seemed to forget my capture as much as you forget what was between us at one time."

The drell was responded with a click nearby, causing him further pain. Liara cringed as she instinctively looked away from the screen. Whatever was happening, it wasn't pleasant, especially with the sudden screaming. When she looked back at the screen moments later, the screams stopped, something the asari was extremely thankful for.

"If you continue to test my patience, Feron," Tazzik growled threateningly, "then I will personally put you through a world of pain, making you insane and broken." He took a step to his left, away from the screen. "After what you have done, with your betrayal and the deaths of the mercenaries by you and your friend's hands, you will wish that you have _not_ crossed with the Shadow Broker! If I had a mind to it, I will tell the Collector to see that you will _not_ see the light of day ever _again_!"

Liara heard someone spitting out something "Is it your nerve or your patience that you're losing?" she heard Feron flippantly asked Tazzik. "I can't tell the difference, really."

"Humph, amusing. I wouldn't say that if I were-"

"Sir, perhaps you should focus on more important matters," a female voice suggested. "He has been rather sarcastic ever since we've started. Strange, really."

A moment of intense silence has occured. Then, Tazzik took a deep breath to settle his nerves. "Very well, then," he sighed, turning back to Liara through the screen. "in the meantime, make yourselves comfortable here, Dr. T'Soni."

"So you can interrogate me, or rather torture me like you did to Feron?" asked Liara.

"Interrogate, yes," the hitman answered. "One of the mercenaries will be arriving here soon. Computer: end transmission."

With that, the image of Tazzik disappeared off the video screen, leaving the former archaeologist alone in her cell. Taking a step back, she sat back down on her bed. Once more, like being trapped at a Prothean dig site on Therum before Shepard rescued her, Liara felt trapped and vulnerable. She's stuck in the middle of literally nowhere without any means to escape, but she had to remain calm. However, she shuttered when the hitman earlier mentioned the Collectors. What kind of fate could possibly befall on her and Feron? She brought her head to her hands, still held together by the restraints.

"Goddess..." she muttered worryingly, as if she wanted to cry. Even when she had combat experience gained from Shepard's journey, this was still all new to her. "Ethan...please be here soon..."

* * *

When the corvette jumped out of the mass relay, Ethan saw an asteroid field through the window. But earlier, he was quite impressed with how it looked like outside while at FTL speeds, with the ship going towards the blue light from the red light, as if the colors were in a spectrum. It was a shame that it only lasted a few minutes, or so he thought.

The pilot keyed in a command on her terminal, analyzing their destination and the state of the ship. "Thrusters are functional, internal emissions sink engaged, and all systems are online," she said. "Drift...just around 500K."

"500 is good," said Mr. Lynch. "We don't want to overshoot our destination. Are we in the Faryar system?"

The pilot checked the calculations on the terminal, then nodded, answering Mr. Lynch's question. The Courier turned his head to the pilot and asked, "Drift? You're making sure we're not over shooting our destination by slowing down halfway there, right?"

"Simply put, but yes," Mr. Lynch answered as Ethan turned to the agent. "In fact, not a lot of people know about that, but I'm pleasantly surprised you do know that fact."

"You've done the analysis on Tazzik's energy signature, right?" Ethan asked. "Anything you can tell me about Alingon and how energy signature works?"

Mr. Lynch approached the window as the ship flew by the asteroid field. "Alingon means 'deceptive' in the salarian language because, years ago, their scouts' probes started malfunctioning. As it turns out, this planet has a high amount of magnesia in its crust and core, interfering with scans and broadcasts. A perfect place to hide. Too perfect, perhaps."

The Courier scoffed. "Perfect," he quipped.

"As for energy signatures, the scanners can detect the heat signatures emitted from life support, the radiation from the power plants, and the exhaust of the thrusters. It's not like the Normandy, where it can sink its heat signature from detection."

"That's Shepard's ship, right? The one that got destroyed by the Collectors?"

The Cerberus agent turned to see Ethan. "Yes, that's correct," he answered.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Ethan saw a blue police box floating out in space. He hadn't paid much attention to it; he was already used to these kinds of events, as if he had a weirdness magnet. He noticed the others didn't notice the anomaly. It wasn't even detected on the ship's sensors. Maybe it was sinking its heat signature? He blinked and, just like that, it was gone. Perhaps he was just hallucinating?

"Are we expecting any resistance?" he asked as the corvette drew closer to a pale-red planet, shrouded by dark clouds. "Is anyone following us?"

The Cerberus agent chuckled. "Who isn't? We're always expecting trouble," he answered. "And don't worry, the corvette didn't emit much of a heat signature, so it'll be less likely for us to be detected compared to your average ship."

With that answered, the starship entered the planet's atmosphere. The Courier felt read and eager to give the Shadow Broker some payback. He'll get Commander Shepard's body, rescue Liara and Feron, and send Tazzik to hell. He'll send a message, a warning to the Shadow Broker or anyone else that stood in his way: do not cross with the man that delivers your mail.


End file.
